2 Acknowledgement The author would like to thank the participating purchasers for taking their time and helping to give an insight to this creative world. A special thanks to my supervisor, Christiane Freund, Katrine Winding and Tómas Örn Sigurbjörnsson without your guidance it would never been a complete assignment. Finally thanks to my family and friends, for their support during this thesis. The journey has been long, but it was all worth it. 2

3 Executive summary This thesis investigates execution of Network Structure Management and Supplier Relationship Management by MSEs in Danish fashion industry and the reasoning for their actions. A continues increase of interest in MSME contributes to the research field. However, so far no research on Network Structure Management and Supplier Relationship Management by MSEs in Danish fashion industry has been made. Primary data was collected via semi-constructed interviews with 10 purchasers and it serves as the primary source of information throughout the paper. Theory on the field is used to understate the analytical results when suitable. The designer s uncompromised passion for their vision characterises the industry. Their lack of economical insight reduces the designer s willingness to accept investors into the company. This is justified by the fear of being pushed to accommodate profit seeking demands, at the expense of their vision. Financial decisions are controlled by the purchaser, as they handle the cost-intensive part of the brand. This underlines the importance of an experienced purchaser. The purchaser s network helps them obtaining information related to business and economical benefits. The national part of the network is based on the idea of sharing and caring, where business and industry related information is made available for members. The network is informal, thus easy to collect information from. Economical benefits are gained via the international network and their relationship with the producer. The purchaser s commitment and loyalty to their supplier base, is the foundation for trust. Trust is rewarded with benefits such as free prototypes. At the same time a distinct degree of intercommunication reduces the workload, as the purchaser knows the capabilities and how to secure quality. The long time line and costs related to achieving trust, is why the purchaser rarely adds suppliers. The few times the purchaser scouts the marked for a new producer, it is done with minimum costs and resources invested. The process appears rather unstructured compared to more formal procurement processes. Due to the focus on production, purchasing is highly prioritised despite not being the core business. Managing the producer relationships correctly is key for the survival of these MSEs. MSEs experience restricted resources, knowledge and liquidity leading to a weak negotiation position against cost-intensive producers. They manage this by accepting the unequal relationship and mastering the ability to retrieve the benefits from the producer using immaterial tools like loyalty and trust. The lack of balance was manifested when raw material prices start increasing. Instead of sharing the costs with the supplier, the producers forwarded them to the purchaser. The purchasers feared determination of the relationship if an apportionment of costs was demanded. Instead they accepted the increased costs, because the economical gains are far more important right now. 3

8 1 Introduction 1.1 Scope of interest Micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSME)) in Denmark are important for the labour market and GDP. In a report from 2009 on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) by CESFO s 1, it was conclude that MSMEs represent 93% of all companies and contribute with 54% of the national turnover The Danish fashion scene is internationally acknowledged and the industry arranges the second biggest fashion event measured on represented brands. The event hosts brands from all over the world. The Danish fashion scene is dependent on the international awareness because 90% of the Danish clothing industry s total turnover is generated from export corresponding to 23.3 billion DKK (Hertzum.Helene 2012). The financial crisis was harsh on small brands, resulting in a high bankruptcy rate. Since SMEs can only execute small initiatives to guard them against external pressure, the author wanted to investigate how they were guarded internally from a supply chain management perspective. This thesis is founded partly on my interest in micro and small sized enterprises (MSEs) in the Danish fashion industry and from the question why these internationally recognized companies have difficulty making a profit or breaking even. The focus on purchasing, and purchasing strategy, is chosen because of the contrast between the low prioritisation of it amongst SMEs and the proven importance they have for a company s profitability. The thesis is about how MSEs in the Danish fashion industry perceive and use purchasing strategically. It is based on the paper: Small company purchasing: A research agenda written by (Ellegaard 2006). The thesis focuses on the elements Network Structure Management (NSM) that concerns the determining of the external network structure of the company and supplier selection, and Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) that concerns the managing and developing of relationships with suppliers. These activities are the chosen focus because of the value they represents for these MSEs abilities to influence and adjust them in a greater degree than other activities. The project will compare SMEs in general and MSEs in the Danish fashion industry perception of purchasing and describe why the MSE in the Danish fashion industry handle their purchasing and the two activities of NSM and SRM like they do. 1 Center for Entreprenørskab og Småvirksomhedsforskning Syddansk Universitet 8

9 1.2 Theoretical framework The thesis will be based on Ellegaard's (2006) understanding of strategic activities in relation to purchasing and it will focus on specific strategic elements regarding purchasing. The article presents an overview of purchasing activity areas to focus on if procurement is of strategic relevance. The rationale is built around an intra-organizational core that links five elements, which represent what the company should focus on (see figure 1). The centre of the intra-organisational purchasing structure represents how the company perceives purchasing and how the organisational structure is built to support the purchasing role. Figure 1 The strategic purchasing activity areas Source: Ellegaard (2006) The five activities are: 1) Network Structure Management covers the external network of a firm, regarding make-or-buy decisions, multiple versus single sourcing decisions, supplier selection, local-national-global sourcing decisions and supply base rationalization. 2) Supplier Relationship Management is concerned with developing and the management of relations with supplier. 3) Supplier Performance Management is where suppliers are measured, evaluated and benchmarking. 4) Product/ Process Development is the development of products or processes internally and/or in collaboration with suppliers, and the associated purchasing concerns. 5) Negotiation and Contracting focuses on contracts and the pricing decision (Ellegaard 2006). 9

10 The two topics of interest for this thesis are Network Structure Management and Supplier Relationship Management. Because the elements are connected to each other, some features of the discarded elements will be mentioning during the thesis. 1.3 Problem statement Based on an empirical study on Micro and Small sized companies (MSE) in the Danish fashion industry, the intention of the paper is to identify a. How does MSEs in the Danish fashion industry execute Network Structure Management and Supplier Relationship Management? b. What are the underlying reasons for their behaviour in relation to Network Structure Management and Supplier Relationship Management? To answer the main questions, it is necessary to have a scientific and empirical understanding of the MSE attributes, their perception of purchasing and how they do strategic procurement. The MSE attributes will define the frame of their relation to purchasing and their opportunities to conduct strategic purchasing. Their Network Structure Management and Supplier Relationship Management execution is a result of the set frame. The areas of interest are further reduced so that; - Within the field of Network Structure Management, the scope is narrowed down to personal network and supplier selection. - Within the field of Supplier Relationship Management, the scope is narrowed down to strategic cooperation with the supplier, the development and importance of trust, commitment and loyalty. 1.4 Limitations and weaknesses This thesis is based on the author s personal interest in MSEs. However, the Supply Chain Management line at CBS is perhaps more focused towards larger organizational structures with global implications. Therefore, the author has read relevant theory on MSEs and SMEs, according to the problem statement, where the author believes the needed insight has been achieved. 10

11 The theory written for SMEs is used as the foundation for argument in this thesis, since specific theory on MSEs is limited. Some of the SMEs characteristics and research results can therefore deviate from the MSE. The deviation is relatively small, thus the author in concurrence with the master thesis counsellor agreed to accept the deviation as a weakness but not a result decisive factor. The studied sample represents approximately 3% of the total amount of relevant companies in Denmark, making the sample size potentially too small to make general conclusions for the entire relevant part of the industry. Random participation within the criteria s makes the potential empirical patterns more reliable, but still a bigger sample size would have been more valid when generalising. As the thesis developed, an opportunity to get a second interview with respondents to clarify certain aspects, or get more in-depth knowledge, would have given the thesis more depth, but none of the participants had time to participate again. 11

12 2 Methodology This paragraph will describe the scientific way chosen to create this paper. It will present a description of the research approach including collection of empirical data, the literature sources and its use, and measures to securing validity and reliability. In this thesis the company sizes are defined according to European Commission definition of company structure: Enterprise size Headcount Annual turnover million Balance sheet total million Big 100 >50 >43 Medium-sized Small Micro Table 1 Definition of company structure Source: European Commission (2012) The companies interviewed ranged from 3-35 employees. Therefore, according to the European Commission, they are micro and small size enterprises and will be referred to as MSEs. The theory is written towards small en medium sized enterprises, SMEs. This thesis is of descriptive character, thus it aims primarily to gathering data and understand how the MSEs relate the problem statement and not to describe how they should relate to it which is the normative approach. The assignment will present existing theory on the selected themes. The theory describes reality in a scientific light and will be used as a benchmark to the collected qualitative empirical data. The empirical data is collected from interviews with the sourcing responsible in 10 different Danish fashion companies. The collected data will be presented objectively in structured general findings. In the analysis, the theory and empiric results will explain why the MSE in the Danish fashion industry view, perceive and carry out Network Structure Management and Supplier Relationship Management elements like they do. 2.1 Conceptual framework An overview of the written literature on the topic Network Structure Management and Supplier Relationship Management shows that the chosen field of MSEs in the Danish fashion industry has never been researched with this particular theoretical angle. 12

13 Without having an exact problem statement when gathering the empirical data, a researcher must engage in an exploratory study. The exploratory research is an approach where the researcher tries to explain the relationships between variables in a given situation (Saunders, Lewis et al. 2009). The multiple research cases are investigated with the objective of illuminating why the companies are acting in the way they are. It is an empirical investigation that explores a contemporary phenomenon in-depth and within real life context (Saunders, Lewis et al. 2009). The data was gathered via semi-structured interviews. Without knowing the academic level of the interviewees, the author approached the interviews with the expectation that the gap between the author s academic vocabulary and theirs was significant. To reduce the gap, the author translated concepts into everyday language by using almost no academic terms. During the interview, the author adapted to the academic level of the interviewees. After conducting the interviews, a thorough theoretical gathering took place, and understanding of these was established. The theoretical themes are organised in chapter 3 and compared with the collected data from chapter 4 in chapter 5. According to Saunders et al. (2009), research approaches are either deductive or inductive. With the deductive approach, the researcher finds a theory, from which a hypothesis is formulated. The researcher then collects data to confirm or reject the hypothesis. Deduction is typically used when drawing conclusions from existing scientific evidence. Going from collecting empirical qualitative data to finding theory to categorising the findings is the inductive research approach, the approach chosen for this thesis. (Saunders, Lewis et al. 2009). Induction is typically used when creating new theory from empirical data. According to Thomas (2003) The primary purpose of the inductive approach is to allow research findings to emerge from the frequent, dominant or significant themes inherent in raw data, without the restraints imposed by structured methodologies. This study adopts an empirical case study strategy which employs an inductive method (Thomas 2003), though creating a new theory is beyond the scope of this paper. Since the observations from the research are made in a real life context, i.e. socially constructed (in contrast to purely natural scientific research) it is not be possible to draw conclusions without acknowledging a certain variance in the actual observations from the expected observation. Thus, it becomes even more crucial to take the necessary precautions to ensure the validity of the conclusions, as the conclusions now will be a supplement to existing theory (Andersen 2008). This 13

14 is why multiple cases were investigated instead of a single case. Multiple case observations create general patterns, underlining that the conclusions are justifiable. The study s validity must be ensured, meaning it is reliable, and that the questions to be answered by the research must be relevant for the planned study. To ensure validity one should make the processes neutral and transparent. Those in charge of the process must be able to describe and explain their drive for the study, their methods or procedures and present the desired goal clearly. The research approach must not influence or lure the researcher in a specific direction via e.g. colluding questions or fixed ideas about the results, to obtain wanted results. A key approach to ensure validity in the context of real competence is to let the process take place as a dialogue in which the research subject has the opportunity to comment and correct the results of the process (Andersen 2008). To secure reliability the result of the chosen methods should be identical every time the study is repeated. The methods must provide objective and neutral results where the prejudices of the researcher do not influence the outcome (Saunders, Lewis et al. 2009). To secure consistent and comparable results, the author strictly followed the created interview template. The template was verified in two test-interviews with companies that were too small according to the set criteria but which had valuable insight from previous experiences. These test interviews gave the author the opportunity to adapt the interview guide, as the author got more practical insights. The approach to interviews was thus carefully considered for the applicable interviews, to try to secure that maximum amount information was extracted. The interviews were all recorded to secure the transparency of the data origin and how it was obtained (Saunders, Lewis et al. 2009). Thus by testing the interviews and setting these criteria, the author tried to minimise variance in the results and create a valid study. 2.2 Sources of knowledge This subchapter about sources of knowledge is divided into primary sources, i.e. the collected interviews, and secondary sources, i.e. already written theory or industry reports that support the knowledge needed to solve the problem statement. 14

15 2.2.1 Primary data The focus group The focus group was found via Danish Fashion Institute member page 2 and Copenhagen Fashion Week 3 catwalk attendees. By searching via these channels, an overview of the established Danish fashion brands was provided. The next step was to sort them after defined criteria. The aim was to get homogenous brands to participate in the study. The criteria were: Danish brand Some part of the is collection Cut-make trim (CMT) produced Minimum 3 employees The collection is sold internationally Has produced at least 4 collections in the past To delineate the assignment to a size that is aligned with the resources at hand and the timeframe, the thesis only focuses on Danish fashion brands. A total of 76 companies meet the set criteria and were contacted. 13 agreed to participate but 3 of them neglected their appointment, so a total of 10 useful interviews were done. Table 2 gives an overview of the participating brands. Profiles of the interviewed brands Interviewee # Employees 2010 Balance sheet (1.000DKK) N/A Table 2 Profiles of the interviewed companies. Source: 2 Danish Fashion Institute is a network organisation to promote Danish fashion, created by and for the Danish fashion industry. 3 Copenhagen Fashion Week is an event that promotes (what is considered) the most exciting and established Danish fashion brands. It is held twice a year for the spring/summer and autumn/winter collections. 15

16 In the fashion industry there are two production ways. The first one is Cut-make-trim (CMT). The companies find and source the fabric and accessories (the trim) themselves. They are responsible for all the logistical parts and sourcing of material and production capacity, demanding a certain level of insight in different supply chain management elements. Sourcing of own design (SOD) is another production method. Here the production firm acquires all the needed materials according to the design s needs, holding the designer responsible for only the logistical part of getting the bulk home. It is used on standard styles, e.g. a t-shirt with an image. This form of production neglects supply chain related issues, thus to be relevant for the study at least 30% of the production must be CMT. The employee size secures the same point-of-view regarding resources and other MSE challenges. Having the collection sold internationally secures a certain production volume and an international setup. With an industry that is known to have little focus on the business part of the industry because of the focus on design, the international aspect adds to the complexity and potential pitfalls. 4 collections means the company has existed at least two years. A history of the company secures a development pattern of the company. By making sure the company has at least a two year history of putting out collections, the necessary know-how from respondents to make the data richer is secured. The companies interviewed are not in the same fashion genre but they are all high-end fashion, and have quality, production and design as their highest priority. They have all outsourced the production primarily to India or China to exploit the economic advantages of low cost producing countries. The chosen brands are all make to order producers (MTO), hence they only manufacture the end product once the customer places the order. An MTO demands flexibility from the producers and negotiation skills, since the producer does not have a specific estimate to deal with when signing a production contract The interviews All interviews, besides one, were done at the office of the company. This was preferred to get a professional environment where the interviewee could feel relaxed and confident and the interviewer could get an impression of the company and its culture. Often the interviewee would show schemas or fabrics to illustrate their explanations, making the location an important part of the interview surroundings. 16

17 The interviews were conducted as semi-structured interviews. The features of qualitative semistructured interviews is that the interviewer has some understanding and knowledge of the explored area, but tries - by using an interview guide - to collect in-depth knowledge in specific selected areas (Andersen 2008), in this case about purchasing and related issues in the fashion industry. Yin (2009 p90-91) remarks that Interviews require you to operate on two levels at the same time: satisfying the needs of your line of inquiry in a fluent rather than rigid manner while simultaneously putting forth friendly and nonthreatening questions in open ended interviews. Collecting data via a semi-structured interview, the interviewer has a defined purpose of the interview. It is done with open but specific formulated questions, to construct a qualitative descriptive dialogue. The open questions were preferred from closed ones, to minimize the influence on the answers by restricting the response. When answering the questions, the interviewees will filter the information from what they perceive as important, potentially leaving out valuable information. If the interviewee misunderstands, thereby misinterpreting the question, it is possible that the answer will be a distorted response. To minimize these slip-ups, the interviewer must be clearly formulated and if in doubt, the interviewer must reformulate or ask explanatory follow up questions (Kvale 1996). As the purpose was to describe how and why the MSEs in Danish fashion act like they do, the interview was collected with a phenomenologist approach. The approach secures both that which appears and the manner in which it appears, meaning the author collected evidence to describe what was done within the activities and the underlining reasons on why they were done like that (Kvale 1996). The first question 4 was designed to demand a long and diverse answer. This way the response revealed what the interviewee s associate thoughts of the topic were, which academic level the purchaser had and the formality. From that the author had the opportunity to adapt the manner and formulation of the subsequent questions. The level of academic understanding of purchasing and the structure of the answer underlined the importance of the explanatory follow up questions. The author was very observant of this because of the potential gap between what the author and the interviewee perceived as important. The interviews were conducted on more or less same level, which was surprisingly high, but interviewee # 6 & 9 where both lacking purchasing related vocabulary. The author observed that during the answering of the first question and therefore used a more descriptive approach when 4 Could you please describe the whole supply chain, from creation of the design to the point of sales, including a timeline? 17

18 asking the following questions. The interviews were all very informal and enthusiastically done. Cursing was done by some of the interviewee which shows that they felt safe and in their comfort zone, thus creating the right setting for them to share information Empirical data The primary data was secured via recorded semi-structured interviews with 10 different fashion brands from the Danish fashion industry within the scope. The recording was done with acceptance of the interviewees and to document the empirical data for further analysis. All interviewees where conducted in Danish and transcribed afterwards. The companies were asked the same questions during the interview, with response driven sub questions to underline or further explain the responses. To test the quality of interviews, e.g. the alignment of the purpose of the assignment and the perspective of the interviewees, two test interviews with companies that did not live up to all the defined criteria were conducted. From the results, the interview guide was corrected and very little was added to the interview guide from that point (Kvale 1996). A strict chronology was undertaken in the interviews to make comparison between the companies possible. The interviews lasted 40 minutes - 1 hour depending on the sub questions and the precision of the answers. The guide was used as a tool to secure focus and maximising information quantity. To maximize the total potential information, different techniques were used during the interviews, depending on the interviewee. As mentioned above, the interviews started with a deliberately naive approach, securing that the interviewees felt free to tell anything they found relevant connected to the question and to assess the formality and thematic insight. As the interviews developed, the questions were a combination of descriptive and purpose oriented questions to get an in-depth understanding of their context and securing all information. The descriptive questions allow the interviewee to describe how they execute the processes and handle the challenges that interest the author. The purpose oriented questions allowed the interviewer to challenge the interviewees purchasing perception with an academic approach (Kvale 1996) Secondary data The secondary data stems from research articles and books supporting the qualitative primary data, while articles or industry reports provide a more quantitative aspect of the industry. Articles for this thesis were found through public databases, such as Emerald Insight, Business Source Complete and ScienceDirect. They were all scholarly (peer reviewed) published papers, meaning they contain 18

19 original research results or reviews existing results that has been reviewed and potentially edited before being published in a journal in the related academic field (Saunders, Lewis et al. 2009). Educational books and few newspaper articles that were evaluated objective are also referred to SME theory It is becoming increasingly recognized that general theory on supply chain management matters is written from the big companies point of view, and therefore only regards problems and solutions from that perspective (Welsh, White 1981, Morrissey, Pittaway 2006). Welsh and White (1981) pointed out that academic poverty existed, when trying to distinguish between MSMEs and big companies (Welsh, White 1981, Morrissey, Pittaway 2006). SMEs have since drawn a rising theoretical interest. Scholars have created more and more theories trying to differentiate the two in all facets. The general theory is criticised on the ground that it cannot be projected to SMEs because of the different circumstances, e.g. when executing some strategies written in general theory, the needed resources available for the sequences are not there. For SMEs, resources are rarely sufficient for all the needed aspects of running a company, making it difficult to apply the suggested strategies. With a lack of resources, the SMEs are forced to focus on well known parts of the company while parts where the knowhow lacks are down prioritized (Welsh, White 1981). The theory on SMEs is rather new and limited compared to theory for big companies. Much of the work done in the field is still in exploration stage, which is why scholars have difficulty in agreeing on certain perspectives. The research for e.g. SMEs and purchasing shows different conclusions in different industries. The variation in company; preferences, vision and lack of resources, makes the SME difficult to categorize thus difficult to draw a generalising conclusion from. 2.3 Summarizing on methodology This study is founded in a personal interest in the topic and academic learning. The inductive approach was chosen because of the lack of MSE theory related to this industry. Via the exploitative semi-structured approach the author got an insight on how 10 fashion companies perceived and dealt with Network Structure Management and Supplier Relationship Management related issues. The semi-structured interviews gave the interviewees the opportunity to express in their own words how and why the issues are dealt with in their specific manner. During the interviews the interviewer had to balance between self interests for the study, making the interviewee feel comfortable and willing to share; and making sure all information was obtained through follow up questions. 19

20 The secondary data will test the empiric data to expose if and how this particular industry distinguishes itself from the general written theory. 20

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